Scarred by decades of conflict and occupation, the craggy African nation of Eritrea has weathered the world's longest-running guerrilla war. The dogged determination that secured victory against Ethiopia, its giant neighbor, is woven into the national psyche, the product of cynical foreign interventions. Fascist Italy wanted Eritrea as the springboard for a new, racially pure Roman empire; Britain sold off its industry for scrap; the United States needed a base for its state-of-the-art spy station; and the Soviet Union used it as a pawn in a proxy war. In I Didn't Do It for You, Michela Wrong reveals the breathtaking abuses this tiny nation has suffered and, with a sharp eye for detail and a taste for the incongruous, tells the story of colonialism itself and how international power politics can play havoc with a country's destiny.

Originally published: Great Britain : Fourth Estate, 2005. Reprint of HarperCollins, 2005, with additional material in section with title: P.S.

Chapter 1City Above the Clouds 1 -- Chapter 2 Last Italian 23 -- Chapter 3 Steel Snake 52 -- Chapter 4 This Horrible Escarpment 78 -- Chapter 5 Curse of the Queen of Sheba 100 -- Chapter 6 Feminist Fuzzy-Wuzzy 116 -- Chapter 7 'What do the baboons want?' 151 -- Chapter 8 Day of Mourning 177 -- Chapter 9 Gold Cadillac Site 197 -- Chapter 10 Blow Jobs, Bugging and Beer 216 -- Chapter 11 Death of the Lion 237 -- Chapter 12 Of Bicycles and Thieves 247 -- Chapter 13 End of the Affair 268 -- Chapter 14 Green, Green Grass of Home 282 -- Chapter 15 Arms and the Man 311 -- Chapter 16 'Where are our socks?' 330 -- Chapter 17 A Village of No Interest 357 -- Chapter 18 'It's good to be normal' 384.